Web Of The Black Widow
by LemonPoppies
Summary: The world's greatest... art thief?
1. Betrayal

Black Widow. The world's greatest art thief.

Yes, it sounded like a bit of a dramatic title; to others, at least, but never to her. Black Widow was not like any other art thieves in Poptropica. It was not because she had multiple names, and definitely not because she was a woman. What made her unique was due to her true identity; to the public of Counterfeit Island, she had been commonly known as Chief Inspector Charlotte Vueve-Noire. She had always looked up to becoming the world's greatest art thief even before she was the chief of police, and was clever enough to be one in order to become less of a suspect to thievery, or any other crime, for that matter. She knew another criminal, as well, on a different island. Her name was Gretchen Grimlock, a gold-digging snake from Cryptids Island. She and Black Widow were, of course, best friends, but that is a different story.

Rumors about her had spread across the island like wildfire, even if the people had never even seen her in real life. What they did not know was who she really was. By day, Charlotte was a very trusted chief of police. She was very serious about her job, and nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary to anyone. But by night, she would transform into the notorious Black Widow. The thief was, indeed, very skilled at her scandals, swiping priceless art pieces from famous paintings to busts clean off of the display and leaving little to no evidence behind. In fact, she stole enough to create her own art gallery deep in her underground lair, located expertly underneath her cottage. In addition, she had also hired a few of her own trained henchmen to guard her art gallery and, on some occasions, bring along on her heists for assistance.

Despite her evil ways, she was also one of the most attractive villains in Poptropica. In her villainous disguise, she has her wavy, jet black locks of hair spiked, and she wore cherry red lipstick and red eye shadow. Her emerald green eyes would allure almost any young man who would dare to look directly into them. The symbolic clothing she wore was a black, tight, latex jumpsuit with the emblem of a red hourglass on her prominent chest, and brought out her curvaceous and busty figure. However, even though she was very appealing to the eye of many who have encountered her, including that of a few other infamous villains and even some of her own henchmen, she did not put much interest in any of them. However, not only was the Black Widow vicious and shifty; she was also a very flirtatious type. Sometimes, for the pleasure of herself, she would entice some people who would supposedly get in her way, as to lure them into a trap. Black Widow would even use them for helpful information to make her next art robbery.

Clever. Impeccable. Bewitching.

She was ingenious.

She was unstoppable.

* * *

It was a sunny, late afternoon on Counterfeit Island. All seemed peaceful for citizens wandering around the streets; that is, until someone zoomed past them in a motorized scooter, in a hurry of not getting caught.

"Stop right there!" the woman shouted after the man she was chasing, on a motorized scooter of her own. This woman was not an officer, but she was determined to catch the crook who she believed stole the famous painting, The Scream.

When they approached the docks, the man suddenly sped up straight towards the wooden pier and drove right off, making the one chasing him stop. Unfortunately, the man landed into a speedboat and escaped the harbour.

"Drats!" Hyper Hawk exclaimed in defeat, getting off her scooter. "He got away... But I won't give up that easily. I'll turn him in for framing me and stealing The Scream, that dirty little..." As she inched closer to where the thief leaped off the docks, she noticed something strange on one of the boards. She bent down to pick it up and examine it. It was a red card with a silhouette of a spider in the center, and a bar code at the bottom. "But it looks like he dropped something," she muttered to herself, and moved her eyes up to the sunset, where the man was now far off into the distance. With a sigh, Hyper Hawk turned around to go to the art museum.

The speedboat sped off far away from the docks for a couple minutes, then made a large circular turn all the way around to the opposite side of the island and parked onshore. Without stopping, the man jumped out of the boat and ran towards and up the doorsteps of the cottage of Inspector Vueve-Noire. His head shifted from side to side before he pounded on the door.

"Who's there?" another man's voice demanded on the other side.

"It's me," the man said hastily. "Open the door!" He heard a few murmurs between a woman and a few other men. Moments later, the door gave off a few clicks as it unlocked. "Get in," the voice said.

The man rushed inside the door and slammed it behind himself. He looked straight ahead and stared into the emerald green eyes of his companion. "Charlotte," he said breathlessly, "she's onto me. That 'Hawk' lady knows that I took that painting and chased me across the island."

"Should I be concerned?" the woman asked.

"What? Of course, we should! We need to either get off this island or get rid of that girl."

She just flashed a smirk at him. "'We'? Oh, I don't think it's my problem anymore."

The man's panting rate immediately slowed as he looked at her questionably. "Huh? What do you..." Before he could finish, Black Widow snapped her fingers and said, "Garçons, take him to the basement." This caused the two henchmen behind her to walk up to the man and seize him, grabbing his arms and hauling him towards the large wooden chest in the corner of the room.

Somewhere underground, right below the cottage, was the lair of the Black Widow. It was massive and had multiple rooms, but only few exits to unlikely locations in the surface. Every room had at least one basement, except for the boiler room, where the man was taken to.

After one of Black Widow's henchmen finished tying the man tightly on to the chair, Black Widow nodded at him as a signal to leave the room. The moment he had walked out, she looked down at the man to see him staring back up at her.

"What is this?" he asked her.

Black Widow's smile grew as she stared down at him, deliciously tied to the chair. "I've brought you down here to tell you some bad news."

His shades slightly sunk down to reveal his vexed eyes. "Bad enough that you gotta tie me to a chair to tell me?"

She grabbed the head of the chair with one hand to lean closer to him. "I'm afraid I won't be needing you anymore."

"What!?" The man was in utter disbelief at her words. He could feel himself starting to shake. "But Charlotte, I thought..." he stammered. "I-I'm your right hand man! We've been working together for years!"

She put a finger over his lips. "Hush," she ordered. Then, flashed a wicked smile, and ran her tongue across her red lips. She loved seeing him tied up like this. "I'm sorry that you don't get it, honey, so I'll give it to you straight: I am not just after The Scream; it's the gallery of the world's finest art pieces I'm after." Her finger trailed down his chest. "And after your lousy performance this afternoon with that girl, I'm afraid I won't have anymore room for you here."

Despite her seductive voice, the man glared at her and gritted his teeth. "You backstabbing-"

"Let's not start name-calling, shall we?" she teased, stroking the beard stubble on his face. The man was still in shock of her betrayal. He could not even think for the longest time. Black Widow broke into his trance by saying, "Anyway, don't get too comfortable. I'll be right back."

Just as she was about to leave, the man found himself mumbling, "You won't get away with this."

Black Widow responded with a giggle. "Oh, silly. You know I will." She started walked out of the room, but then she paused to add, "And that girl you were talking about earlier?.. I've already set plans for her." As she continued to exit the boiler room, she smiled evilly at the thought of tying her new enemy, Hyper Hawk, up to a chair, as well. Perhaps she could do the honors to do so.

Hopelessly, the man closed his eyes and bowed his head down. If he could not stop her, he thought, then no one could. After all, she was a sly one. It seemed that nobody could save him, the girl, or the art museum from the Black Widow. The world's greatest art thief.


	2. Scandal

"Just be safe. Someone you trust is watching you very closely," the art museum curator told Hyper Hawk, and slipped a bronze key into the girl's hand. "And take this key. Be careful with it- we lost much just to obtain it."

Hyper Hawk glanced down at the key. Why would someone go through that much trouble just for a key? She thought, then gripped it tightly in her fist and nodded at the curator. "I won't let you down, ma'am. You can count on me," she said, and quickly left the Pop Art Museum, hopping into her blimp and making haste towards Counterfeit Island.

Upon return, Hyper Hawk hopped off her blimp and rubbed her temples in frustration. She was exhausted from running around all day; she had not gotten any breaks since she woke up that morning, in which she spent the night in a jail cell. With a groan, she took a seat on the bench in front of the dried fountain. "I just don't get it," she mumbled to herself, and lifted up the key she was given to examine it. "After all that work to find out who the thief is, I still haven't captured him. And now, I'm given a key that I don't even know where it goes to. What am I gonna do now?.." She buried her face in her hands for a moment, only hearing the chirping of the birds and chatter of people around herself.

In spite of herself, she sighed heavily and stood back on her feet. "Can't give up now. I'm so close, I can feel it... I know I am." She started to walk herself down the sidewalk to clear her mind. "The curator must've given me this key for a reason if it's so valuable... The missing link is where it goes to."

"Psst! Hey!"

Hyper Hawk stopped abruptly and lifted up her head. "Huh?" she asked, and turned to see the street painter she saw earlier, waving towards her. She took a deep breath in relief. "Oh, it's you," she said, approaching him. "Sorry if I look frustrated. I'm having a rough day today. I wish something would just give me a hint on what I'm supposed to do."

The painter said in sympathy, "I'm sorry you're not having the best of days today. But I'm sure it will get better soon, you'll see."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, I want to tell you something strange that happened today," he began. "Recently, I sold a painting to Investigator Vueve-Noire... but with no frame!"

Hyper Hawk nodded, but did not seem to be following him. "That's cool. Which painting did she buy?"

He replied, "I can't remember. She asked me for any one of them." This struck her as a bit unusual, and listened more intently to him. "Oh." she said, "that is strange."

"Yeah," the painter said. "why would she need a painting without a frame? Someone should investigate that."

Hyper Hawk shrugged. "I dunno... That is weird, but I haven't suspected the investigator of anything." She looked down and frowned for a moment. This may be a clue connected to the crime. Maybe she could ask Investigator Vueve-Noire a few questions, just in case. Hopefully, it would progress her mission in some way. With a crooked smile, she said, "Thanks for telling me. This could help me solve this case."

"No problem. I hope you get to the bottom of it!"

She spun around to go downtown, but then she added, "Oh and, by the way, did anyone ever tell you that you look like Bob Ross?"

The painter nodded. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

Hyper Hawk ran all the way across downtown and into the countryside, halting in front of the inspector's house. Climbing up the doorsteps, she took another deep breath and knocked on the door. "Excuse me, Inspector... Vev Noo-ar," she to the door, not able to pronounce her name. She waited patiently for a response, but never received any sign that someone was in the house. Hyper Hawk tried jiggling the door handle, but it was locked. She bounced on her toes impatiently; the thief needed to be stopped as soon as possible. Jamming her hand in the pocket of her jacket, she felt the bronze key. After some thought, she came to the conclusion that it would be worth a try to unlock the door with it.

At first, she felt hesitant to walk into someone's house without permission. However, this was an emergency, and Hyper Hawk reminded this to herself. Swallowing down her throat, she took the key out of her pocket and tried to fit it into the keyhole.

The key fits! Hyper Hawk thought to herself after she unlocked the door, then twisted the doorknob and pushed it open. Why did the curator have the key to the inspector's house? She thought again. And why did she risk things for it?

She poked her head inside and surveyed the empty room. "H-Hello?" she said shyly. "Inspector?" Not being able to pull herself back outside, she quickly went in the cottage and shut the door behind herself. Her footsteps echoed on the polished wooden floor throughout the hallway. She looked up into a staircase that was in between the hall and a small kitchen. At the top of the staircase, a door was wide open with bright light coming from the inside. It seemed to welcome Hyper Hawk inside of whatever room was up there. She reluctantly brought herself up the stairs, and found herself in a large bedroom, with a framed painting in the far left of her view.

Her head cocked to the side as she slowly approached it, scanning the entire painting up and down. The picture consisted only of splotches of bright and lively colours. "This must be the picture that street painter sold to her earlier... but it's framed now," she muttered to herself. "It's such a random painting to hang up on the wall, too... A landscape painting would have been much more fitting with this room." As she got close enough to look up at it, Hyper Hawk noticed that the corner of the paper the painting was on was somewhat folded over, revealing a dull, reddish-orange colour behind it. She narrowed her eyebrows and lifted her hand up to pinch the corner of the paper.

It was on top of... a canvas?

Slowly, she peeled off the street painter's artwork to see what it was hiding. When she fully uncovered it, she instantly recognized the painting before her, and dropped the paper in shock. Her hand moved up to cover her mouth from gasping too loud, and her eyes were huge.

"T...The Scream!" Hyper Hawk exclaimed in horror. She began to panic even more when the bedroom lights cut off in response of her shouting. "H...Hey, who turned off the-" she began, but then took a blow to the head from behind before she could finish. She passed out before she hit the floor.

"Ohh..." Hyper Hawk groaned, getting herself to wake back up. She cringed when a sharp pain grew on the side of her head. "Oww, my head... What happened?" She tried to reach for the spot on her noggin where she had been struck, but oddly enough, she could not move her arm. Struggling to open her eyes up, she came to realization that her arms, legs, and waist have been tied to a chair by a thick, brown rope. This shook her fully awake, and her head lifted up to stare into the pitch darkness that circled around her, putting her in the center of a large, bright spotlight, illuminated by only a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Is anyone there?" she yelled out into the darkness, her voice trembling. "Hello?"

Suddenly, she heard someone giggle right in front of her. Hyper Hawk gulped down and asked, "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

In response, the sound of high heeled boots clacking on the concrete grew closer towards her, and someone hiding within the shadows stepped out into the light in front of her, with her hands on her hips and her cherry red lips curled into a mischievous smile. Hyper Hawk widened her eyes once again as she looked her up and down. "Oh, uh..." Her eyes darted back to her face. "Who are you?"

"I am the Black Widow," she proudly answered, "the world's greatest art thief!"

Hyper Hawk could feel her heart drop down as she heard her say this. Not only was she the Black Widow; she had recognized her voice.

The inspector is the thief! How could I've been so stupid?! She exclaimed in her head, then grimaced, recalling a page of the French Dictionary she skimmed over the day before. How could the people have been so stupid? They all speak French; the biggest hint is right in her name!

She said in a small voice, "But- But I thought you were a cop! How could you-"

"Enough!" Black Widow commanded, pointing at her and walking threateningly closer to her. "I'll be the one asking the questions."

Hyper Hawk, dismayed, gave her the nastiest glare. "What would you want from me?"

Black Widow bent down so her face was right in front of hers. "I know you've spoken to that cursed curator," she said, cupping her hand under her chin. "You know where all the art is being hidden. Tell me."

"W-What?" Hyper Hawk narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What're talking about?"

There was another intensifying silence between the two women. Hyper Hawk could hear her heart racing through her chest. Another one of Black Widow's tempting smiles suddenly stretched across her face, and she hovered herself right above Hyper Hawk's lap to have a seat on. "Don't play dumb with me, honey," she said.

"Whoa, hey," the other girl responded, reeling her head back, "now, Miss Widow, I know what you're doing, and I'm not OK with it."

Black Widow could now visibly see her trembling, and became delighted. "Are you scared?"

Suddenly, Hyper Hawk stopped quivering. "Well," she began, "you're straddling me on a chair that I'm tied to inside of a dark and secluded room, so..." -She pretended to give this some thought- "Yep, I'm scared shitless."

Black Widow shushed her again, growing impatient. "I've no time for this, Hawk, and you know it. Now, tell me, sweetie," she said, gently grabbing on to Hyper Hawk's jacket lapels, "where is the great art hidden?"

Hyper Hawk was still scared out of her mind, and had absolutely no clue on what she wanted from her. She simply just shook her head. "I have no idea!" she admitted. "Honest!"

A frown took over the foe's face, and she stood up, putting her hands around Hyper Hawk's face and tilted it up. "Well, you don't get comfortable, either. I'll be right back." Then she walked off of her and headed towards the exit.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Hyper Hawk croaked behind her. Black Widow paused briefly and looked over her shoulder to reply, "You'll see when I get back." She left the room without saying anything else.

Hyper Hawk tilted her head down at the ropes straining her from leaving the chair with a glare. "Man, she was hot. But I need to get outta here!" She started to struggle against the tight ropes to possibly loosen them up, but they were knotted very efficiently. She groaned. "But how am I gonna do that when I'm all bound up like this alone where I don't even know where the hell I am?!"

"You're not alone," another voice said behind her, making her jump.

"Wha- Now who's there?!" Hyper Hawk asked, twisting her head to the side to try to see who was behind her. It was another chair, with its back towards her, and someone else tied to it. Above it was the back of someone's head, and a brown fedora on top. Hyper Hawk quickly looked back forward with huge eyes. "You!?" she yelled, and glared into the darkness. "You're the one who set me up! Man, I can't stand anyone in this room!" She paused, and added softly, "Well- except for me. Me, I like." Turning angry again, she said, "And not you! I swear, when I get outta these ropes, I'm gonna-"

"I'm afraid we've both been set up, my friend," the man said.

She turned her head sideways again. "What do you mean?"

The man gave a deep breath and confessed, "For years I've been the Black Widow's right hand man... but now, she's betrayed me."

"Really?" Hyper Hawk asked. "Looks like we're both in trouble... But ropes can't stop me! If you're telling me the truth, then we'll need to get out of here before she comes back!"

The man thought for a moment, then said, "I've got it."

"What?"

"C'mon, see if you can work your way over here and I will untie you... Ah, here, I got one hand loose."

Hyper Hawk's eyes trailed down to the old, grey concrete floor. "A-Alright," she mumbled. She leaned slightly forward, then slammed her back on towards her chair, scooting it slightly backwards. She repeated this tedious process, being careful not to tip over. Finally, her chair brushed up beside his. He turned his head to give her a surprised look.

"That was fast!" he said, using his free hand to tug on the ropes cinching her wrist. Hyper Hawk shrugged. "I am pretty fast when it comes to a life or death situation. Thanks for untying me," she said, wiggling her hands around to help loosen the ropes. "When we bust outta here, the first thing I'm gonna do is report her to the police."

"Ah, it ain't that easy," the man replied. "The Black Widow has henchmen around every corner of this place. We'll have to sneak past them in order to get to her. She's probably in her gallery." He glanced down for a moment. "Where she always is..."

When the two untied each other, Hyper Hawk was the first to stand up, and lifted her arms up to stretch. She felt so uncomfortable tied to that chair, and wondered how long she was in that position. Glancing down at the man, she stuck her hand out to help him up. He nodded at her and grabbed ahold of her hand for support to stand himself up. "Thanks, kid. I've been sitting like that for an hour, I'd say..." Rubbing his wrists, he added, "Y'know, I might've underestimated you when we met yesterday. You're actually full of wit."

Hyper Hawk smiled. "Thanks. You're not so bad after all, either. Now let's get out of this room." She turned to where Black Widow had exited the room. "We've got a spider to catch."

And that very day would be the last for the Black Widow's art thievery.


	3. Downfall

Black Widow knew that this day would come. Both her right-hand man and Hyper Hawk had defeated her and thrown her in jail, just like that. All her hard work, and dedication, gone down the drain.

Poor girl...

Every morning she would wake up with a start, only to find herself still inside of a small jail cell in the possession of the police station. Day by night, Black Widow would sit in her cell in silence, with her back facing the bars.

That is, until I came along.

I should have received more appreciation from them for trying to avenge them. Yes, them. I had seen what they had been through their whole pathetic lives. All four had one thing in common: they desired revenge on Hyper Hawk, who had always beaten them. So I decided to do something about it do appease their villainous minds. How do I know all this, you may ask? Because I see all. Do not question it.

I had promised those ungrateful fools sweet revenge on that cursed Hyper Hawk. I, too, hold a burning hatred for her. And to this day, my passionate malice remains stagnant. Once I gathered four of her most menacing foes, I hid them inside of a prison building on a little private island. There, a deal was made, in exchange of taking vengeance among the one who had brought them to justice, they would each give something that belonged to them, but were even not aware of it. Something so precious to me, I would treasure them for eternity...

The price to them would not have been very costly, but I will admit, it was very difficult to extract their most powerful totems from them, even with my power. I have even constructed a machine to enter into their dreams while they were asleep in capsules I have stored them in. However, their dreams are shockingly much too complex for me, and I cannot understand them. So then, I came up with a most clever plan to disguise as a brilliant scientist and lure Hyper Hawk into fetching those totems for me as a request, and right towards my... "subjects".

But alas! My plan had failed, all thanks to that cursed Hyper Hawk... again. As of right now, and I cannot understand why, she is now friends with them. And to make matters even worse, she even stole away the only loyal mortal that worked for me and befriended him as well. Have I been neglectful? At times, but that is only because I focused on what was more important; defeating Hyper Hawk. Not even he could see this. It was as if he had good in him all along, which would be hard to believe, since he was once an enemy to her, as well, but his totem was not as significant as the other four. But if I have to do this myself, then I shall; I will destroy Hyper Hawk. I do not care what my brothers have to say. I will eventually succeed.

Why am I doing all this?

Because I am the god of thunder.

I am Zeus, the world's mightiest immortal.


End file.
